A bus driver in Dayton, Ohio was saved by what can only be seen as divine intervention when a group of 3 young black men said they “had to shoot a polar bear.”

The driver, Rickey Waggoner, was shot 3 times and also stabbed during the attack. The two deadly bullets aimed at his heart were stopped by a New Testament Bible that he had tucked into his shirt pocket.

Police say the bus driver is lucky to be alive after three black “teenagers” stabbed and shot him. A Bible over the bus driver’s heart stopped two bullets and allowed him to fight off a knife attack from his assailants.

One additional bullet struck him in the leg. The teens also stabbed him in the arm.

The attack came this morning at 5:30 when the driver stopped his bus because of mechanical difficulties.

“As he was outside of the bus assessing how to fix the problem, the three suspects came up to him and said they had to ‘shoot a polar bear,’” police told WHIO news.